


"Fathers and Sons"

by suecsit



Category: Cobra Kai
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 05:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14585964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suecsit/pseuds/suecsit
Summary: An AU inspired by the moment in which Amanda says to Daniel, “You’re having way too much fun with this.” Daniel knows who Robby’s father is. He’s just staying quiet about it. For now.





	"Fathers and Sons"

Robby was working on punches in the dojo when he tried to tell Daniel the truth. He figured better now than never. The guy had given him a job, free karate lessons. Had him over for dinner with the family. There had to be a way to break it to him easily. Casually. To say it before things got even more complicated.

“So….were you my age when you started your training?” Robby glanced quickly over at Daniel between hits to the punch bag. He then kept his eyes focused like he was told to. 

Daniel was checking something on his phone and didn’t look up. Robby was glad because he wasn’t good at subterfuge. He always made a mess of it.

“Well…” Daniel sighed at the contents of something, perhaps an email, and set the phone down, leaning casually against a table. “Not exactly. I took lessons in New Jersey as a kid. But I stopped when I was a teenager.”

The bag absorbed the nervous punches. Robby kept pummeling, his mind calculating how to get the conversation where it needed to be. “But you won tournaments in high school, right?” He stopped for a minute and turned to face his teacher. His fists were still up, and he was breathing heavily. 

Daniel leaned his head to the side a little and regarded Robby. “I did. You’ve got a good memory.” Silence. Daniel watched him, a small smile. Robby didn’t know what to think about that. The quiet was uncomfortable, so Robby started punching again. “Remember to breathe.”

He missed the bag completely that time. He could feel his face turn red. “I saw the commercials and the billboard. Figured it out. ”

Daniel stood up straight and moved closer. “I wasn’t looking for karate lessons then, though. I was just trying to go to school. Meet people.”

“Did you look for a dojo at all?” As Robby kept punching, he felt Daniel walk behind him to watch his delivery. 

“We trained on our own. But yeah, once I almost joined one.” Daniel came behind him and gently moved his shoulders until they were square. Leaning close to Robby’s ear, he reminded, “You need to put the entire force of your body behind the punch. Try it again.” 

Robby adjusted his stance so that his weight was more equal on both feet. He was always leaning on one side. Another metaphor, he supposed. Daniel stepped back and smiled again, like he was studying something in Robby’s face. His posture. 

Robby punched, the new posture making his attack cleaner and stronger.

“Better. Another set and you can call it quits.”

“So...what happened?” Robby took a deep breath but couldn’t get any more words out. He saw snakes on a wall, a kid with a black robe hugging his father in a strip mall parking lot. 

“Why do you ask? You know Mr. Miyagi taught me.” Robby did know that. Daniel never stopped talking about the guy. He wondered what would happen if he talked about Mr. LaRusso in front of his dad the same way Daniel talked about his former teacher. Could be fun to see the reaction.

Or not. Robby wasn’t sure anymore. Things were getting mixed up.

“No, before. When you thought about classes.” Silence. This wasn’t going well. He kept losing his place in the conversation. The exercise done, he wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve and stepped back from the bag.

“Saw some bullies from school. Went to the window, and they, well, one of them was smiling at me.” Daniel went over to the table to retrieve his phone. He put it in his phone in his pocket and watched as Robby packed his things. “Like sharks smelling blood.” 

“You should have gone in anyway.” Robby made eye contact once his backpack was slung over his shoulder. “You were better than he was.” He felt the anger bubbling up. It was like acid in his stomach.

“He?” 

Shit. 

Eyes averted now, Robby looked down to pick up his skateboard. “I mean they. The bullies.” His face burned, and he had trouble enunciating the words. Funny. He used to charm people. All he had to do was smile, and people would give him the passwords to their computers.

“But I wasn’t. Not back then. It takes time.” Daniel put a hand on Robby’s shoulder as he crossed toward the door. “It all worked out in the end anyway.”

Robby followed him out as Daniel locked up by punching keys on a small box. He tried and failed to memorize the numbers. 

“My dad knew karate,” he rushed. “Um, I think he trained around here. When he was young.” The words came out in a giant mess. So much for charm.

“Really.” 

The sun was setting outside. Daniel stared. Robby placed his skateboard on the driveway, halfway on, halfway off. Time to go. 

Daniel watched him move his weight from the board to the ground and back again. “See you tomorrow morning. Oh, and watch out for snakes.”

The skateboard rolled out from under him and down the driveway. He didn’t even turn to see where it landed. He just froze and, once again, forgot to breathe.

“We found some in the grass by the driveway the other day. Almost got bit. You know how it is.” Daniel looked like he was trying not to smile. 

Just like that day he brought that sales report. 

There’s no way he knows this, he thought. Yeah, he’s smart and successful and rich and he knows karate, but he can’t know. He can’t know everything. No one person knows everything. 

Robby once thought Daniel could sense things. That same day he brought the report. Like he knew Robby was coming. 

Get a grip, he reminded himself. He’s not God.

“Um, yeah, I’ll try to be careful.” He ran down to the curb to retrieve the wayward skateboard. Looked back once. “Thanks again. For teaching me.”

“Not a problem. You’re a natural. Must be good genes.”

He had never skated so fast in his life.


End file.
